Words provide a metaphorical Conduit for our thought that is marginal at best in practice. We supplement traditional composition with diverse and personal context so as to provide for a more embodied experience for later and distant readers.
Authors such as Reddy and Lakoff remind us how often words fail us as a medium. They are at best interpreted within a frame through which we give them meaning. We embody the frames within our physical experience which will not transmit well electronically.
See Conduit Metaphor
We imagine wiki as the intellectual wake left behind and spreading from an individual's human existence. It is an evolved form of hypertext that seek authority in its own survivability at the whim of subsequent authors.
In order to provide a recording of better than average fidelity the medium must succeed in many small but not at all common ways.
Wiki must survive through waves of technology.
Wiki must engage the technicians who support it.
Wiki must capture speech acts of text, sound or image.
Wiki must lessen the craft required of speech.
Wiki must accept the influence of subsequent authors.
Wiki must reconcile speech with measured reality.
Wiki must explore changing landscapes.
Wiki must contextualize unexpected expression.
Wiki must allow prolonged study.
Wiki must counter consumer market forces.
Wiki must discourage simplification.
Wiki must inform reliable prosperity.
We hope that future generations will recognize the benefits of this medium and the souls who have propagated it. We will have succeeded if they judge us to have made good use of the opportunities the technology provided.